Traveller from Hong Kong arrested at New Zealand airport after HK$7.5m crystal meth found in two neck pillows
Man arrived on flight from city to Wellington, via Sydney, say kiwi customs authorities
PUBLISHED : Wednesday, 20 January, 2016, 7:15pm
UPDATED : Wednesday, 20 January, 2016, 7:20pm
Christy Leung
[email protected]
About 1.5kg of crystal meth was found in neck pillows carried by a passenger arriving in Wellington. Photo: SCMP Pictures
Crystal meth with a street value of around HK$7.5 million was found concealed in two neck pillows carried by a traveller from Hong Kong, New Zealand customs said.
The 49-year-old man was arrested by officers at Wellington airport on Wednesday morning, after he was found to be in possession of around 1.5kg of methamphetamine, also known as Ice.
Authorities said the suspect had arrived on a flight from Hong Kong, via Sydney.
“Our intelligence-led approach has removed another large amount of meth from the drug supply chain, preventing substantial harm to our communities,” customs investigations manager Maurice O’Brien said in a statement.
It was reported that the man appeared at Wellington District Court following his arrest and was charged with importing class A drugs and possession for supply. He was remanded in custody without plea until next month.
Since 2014, law enforcement agencies in New Zealand have stepped up cooperation with their counterparts in China and Hong Kong in a bid to stem the heavy flow of drugs manufactured in Guangdong province.
A Hong Kong customs source said meth was usually smuggled from the mainland to overseas destinations through Hong Kong, and described the drug trade to Oceania as “very lucrative” because the street price of meth there could jump tenfold.
“A kilogram of meth has an estimated street value of about HK$400,000 in Hong Kong, but it could fetch more than HK$4 million per kilogram in New Zealand and Australia,” the source said.
“It could also be bought illegally in the mainland for less than HK$100,000 per kilogram.”
He said smugglers often concealed drugs in luggage or inside their own bodies, and that hiding drugs inside neck pillow was not a new idea.
Last December, New Zealand customs and police discovered a 9kg haul of meth inside a coffee table destined for Wellington from Hong Kong, while Hong Kong customs also seized about 7.5 kg of New Zealand-bound meth last July.
Customs chiefs from Auckland visited Hong Kong last year and met with local narcotics agents to discuss stepped-up intelligence and enforcement action.
